10 The Revolutionary Moment Lee Baxandall (1968) [P.90-100]

• P. 91 Those seeking to go 'beyond' the naturalistic drama more easily fall 'beneath' its achievement.
• The trouble is: we have had little else for nearly one hundred years but naturalistic social outlook in our ambitious Theatre. The period of modern drama was indeed opened by Naturalism. Its outlook was at one time a bold revelation; it stood nearly at the pinnacle of social-scientific awareness.
• P.92 Brecht can properly be termed a Naturalist - in his early plays.
• The naturalistic drama attracted many non-Marxian Socialists and also Marxists in the late years of the nineteenth century.
• P.93 Still and all, Naturalism was the only serious theatre around, [...] Moreover, even Marxists who went beyond the naturalistic outlook in theory might find that it corresponded to the reality of their lives.
• P.96 In the United States John Reed became the prism through which the naturalistic drama was to appear insufficient at the time of transition to a Bolshevik optimism.
• Reed was an eye-witness to the Russian events of 1917. He became, moreover, an actor in the revolutionary drama: he was a courier for the Bolsheviks.
• P.100 Finding itself last May in the thick of May in the thick of the uprising of French students and workers, the Living Theatre took advantage of its experience and courage. The explosive political events confirmed and reinforced the coiled-spring value of the Becks' patiently developed perspectives. They boldly stepped beyond Naturalism and the first result is Paradise Now!
• Paradise Now! as revolutionary theatre does not exactly follow or resemble its Bolshevik forebear.